I drove Alpine’s A110 R – a razor-sharp car built by racers that’s extremely fast and easy to drive

THERE are ten F1 teams – and six of them build real cars for the road.

Mercedes. McLaren. Ferrari. alpine. Alfa Romeo. Aston-Martin.

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Of those six, only three make cars under £100,000.

Mercedes. alpine. Alfa Romeo.

Of these three, only one uses its F1 know-how to build a featherweight two-seater sports car.

alpine.

This track-focused A110 R has been optimized at the F1 team’s aero lab in Enstone.

Any part that could be carbon fiber is carbon fiber. Even the wheels.

They cost £2,000 a corner and you’ll find they don’t go together.

Why?

The front wheels help brake cooling and the rear wheels reduce drag. Proper geek stuff.

The side skirts – also made of carbon fiber – widen the car’s flat underbelly to avoid turbulence. The gooseneck rear wing provides additional downforce. The carbon fiber engine cover saves 4 kg compared to glass.

I could go on but I won’t.

Except that the A110 R looks awesome in exactly the same blue as the Alpine F1 car.

So how is it to drive?

Hilarious. Everything razor sharp. Everything easy. You can literally feel the lightness and rigidity. It’s a really special car.

And it’s fast.

Three hundred horses in a car that weighs little more than a Walkers six-pack is all you need for a willing dance partner. It’s only 1,082 kg.

An Alpine engineer told me, “It’s easy to add more power to go faster in a straight line. Add lightness and you will move faster everywhere.”

There’s no denying that the A110 R is expensive at £89,990. That’s £38,000 more than a standard A110. But Alpine has no trouble shifting them.

This year’s contingent is sold out.

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And you know a car is good when Renault’s big boss tries a prototype and orders the first one. Alpine’s CEO bagged car #2.

In addition, this is a crisp investment. It’s a French Porsche Cayman – but much rarer. And in 2026 they will be gone forever as Alpine becomes a pure electric vehicle brand. Grrrr.

Still, I’m excited to see Alpine’s sharp version of the Renault 5. The “urban racer” will have 220 hp with an F1-style boost button. Electric torque vectoring helps it corner like a go-kart. And it should be HALF the price of an A110 R.

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We’ll see in April.

Alpine is also working on a sporty SUV, codenamed “DZ110”, as well as much later an electric replacement for the A110.

Three very different cars but with the same DNA.

Cars built by racers for racers.